To continue reading this article or issue you must be a paid subscriber. Sign in
If you are logged in but cannot access this content, a) your subscription may have expired; b) you may have duplicate accounts (emails) in our system. Please check your account status hereorcontact customer service.
Immediate access to this article and 20+ years of archives.
Recommendations for the best dog food for your dog.
Dry food, homemade diets and recipes, dehydrated and raw options, canned food and more.
Brands, formulations and ingredients all searchable in an easy-to-use, searchable database.
Plus, you’ll receive training and care guidance to keep your dog healthy and happy. You’ll feed with less stress…train with greater success…and know you are giving your dog the care he deserves.
Subscribenow and save 72%! Its like getting 8 issues free!
Who were your favorite teachers in school? Picture those individuals for a minute, and I’ll bet I can describe them: Interesting, exciting people who made learning fun. People who were kind to you, and made you feel respected and appreciated. The teachers you remember most fondly were probably “tough” in that they had high expectations for you, and required you to learn and perform a lot. They encouraged participation, didn’t make a big deal over your mistakes, but cheered on your successes. You probably did well in their classes and felt “smart” in that setting. Am I right?
In fact, people who meet that description are using the same sort of teaching techniques that Whole Dog Journal promotes for training dogs. We advocate for these applications of positive reinforcement because they work so well, do not present a danger or threat to dogs or their handlers, and are so enjoyable for owner/teachers and their dog/students alike.
This issue of contains an unusual and, I hope, inspiring concentration of articles about positive training and behavior. Consider making these articles your new year, newly positive training guide!
I put Whole Dog Journal’s training advice to work every time I need to take photos to illustrate our articles. For the article on target training, I went over to my friend Donna’s ranch. Donna has five of her own dogs, and frequently finds several of the neighbors’ dogs hanging around, so I knew we’d have lots of fun training any number of canine models to target. I arrived at the ranch armed with my camera, loads of treats, several clickers, and a target stick. When I pulled out the target stick, which I had fashioned from a wooden back scratcher with a small ball on the end, Donna started laughing. “Remember Howard?” she asked me.
Years ago, Donna had a laid-back, 100-pound, yellow dog named Howard. When visitors would ask Donna about the stately Lab-mix, she would say mischievously, “That’s Howard; he’s a stick dog.” Of course, to most people, that would imply the dog is a compulsive stick chaser, one that is likely to drive you nuts by repeatedly dropping a stick at your feet in an effort to get you to throw it. Looking at the laid-back old fellow, most guests would look a little dubious. “Here, I’ll show you,” Donna would helpfully insisted. “Howard, go get your stick!”
Howard would gravely get to his feet, go into the kitchen, and dutifully return with a long, thin stick that had something on one end. He’d bring the stick back to Donna, and then, as the bewildered guest looked on, turn his slowly wagging tail toward her . . . and settle in for a satisfying session of back-scratching! Not quite the type of “stick dog” people expect!
I hope you have fun finding new tricks for a stick with your dog.
There are millions of dog products being marketed to dog owners for direct use on, in, or around their dogs and puppies: foods, treats, supplements, toys, training tools, garments, medical supplies, grooming tools and unguents, beds, fences, and crates. Then there are the limitless number of dog-related items meant to glorify, commemorate, and stoke the human’s love and understanding of dogs: canine-related decorations and knickknacks, art, clothing, stationary, books, videos, DVDs, and computer programs.
We’re always looking for new and particularly useful products to recommend to our readers (and to use for our own dogs!). We limit our attention to products that provide an actual service, that help owners keep their dogs healthy, happy, safe, and well-trained. You can find “cute” on your own!
We can’t pretend to have seen much less inspected them all. The task would be endless. But we’ve seen enough products to quickly recognize particularly unique items, ones that stand out in terms of quality and usefulness, or that have solved an everyday problem in an extraordinary way.
Here are some additional challenges: letting go of past favorites (especially those that have no real peers), and sitting on our hands while waiting for products in development to reach market. We’re going to address both types, briefly.
We know, we know: There are thousands of dog treats on the market. But we keep buying Lick’n Crunch cookies, for ourselves and for gifts, because these are:
288
Made out of 100 percent human edible ingredients in a plant that makes cookies for people
Completely safe and legal for people to eat
Perfectly safe for dogs to eat, since they contain carob (never chocolate)
Way tastier than Oreos . . . and dogs love them, too!
Available with either peanut butter or vanilla filling
There are many occasions and circumstances in which it’s helpful for a dog to wear a muzzle. In many cities, for example, only muzzled dogs are allowed on public buses and trains Muzzles are also helpful for dogs who have difficulty staying in control in the face of particularly stressful settings such as a vet’s office or on the sidelines of an agility event. Sadly, many people assume that a muzzled dog is a mean dog or that you, the owner, are mean! and the sinister look of many muzzles only reinforces those stereotypes.
288
In contrast, the bright, cheerful print fabrics of Happy Muzzles convey an overtly friendly message: This is a nice dog who just has to wear this right now!
Happy Muzzles are constructed out of strong but light and washable, Cordura fabric, with a little padding in the nose for your dog’s comfort. They come in three prints daisies, cherries, and a blue geometric design and seven sizes, including two sizes appropriate for wide-faced dogs.
We’re always on the lookout for a better dog bed. Usually this implies a foam-filled bed; in our experience, only very thick, dense, top-quality foam can provide adequate cushioning for older, arthritic dogs . . . or to provide a comfortable enough pet bed to keep the young dogs and the cat off our sofa! But foam has its flaws. As it ages, it gets smellier and smellier. Thick foam is difficult to wash, rinse, and dry. Sometimes washing it makes it even more odoriferous. And when it gets even older, it starts to disintegrate!
CrossGel LLC has made luxury consumer and medical beds for humans for a number of years but not with foam. Its unique mattresses are made of a soft, heavy polymer gel that is molded into a sort of honeycomb structure (with square-shaped cells rather than hexagons). The columnar structure of the cells helps to distribute weight over a wider area, increasing the comfort of the bed (and in humans who are confined to bed, reducing or eliminating pressure sores). The material feels flimsy when a section of it is manipulated in the hand, but it does provide cushion and comfort. The material is machine washable, and air-dries quickly.
288
CrossGel only recently branched out into pet beds. It tried to anticipate the special needs of dogs and the requirements of dog owners, and developed a antimicrobial, antibacterial, zip-on, fabric cover; this is the cover that we have tested. The base of the cover is a heavy, rubberized, no-slip material that holds up well to the bed’s heavy use; the top has not proved as sturdy.
The fabric used in the top of the cover, made of a special material that is supposed to resist odor buildup, has frayed and worn at a rate that indicates it won’t last nearly as long as the gel interior. Though we haven’t had the opportunity to test it, we’d probably be happier with the regular synthetic fleece cover that CrossGel offers for $50 less.
Like virtually all top-quality beds appropriate for use with old or arthritic dogs, the FlexGel bed is very expensive. Even so, its comfort seems worth the price. Eleven-year-old Cooper, seen above, has a choice of three beds in the Whole Dog Journal office. Since the arrival of the FlexGel bed, he chooses the FlexGel exclusively, even shunning his cozy (and well-padded) crate in cold weather. We think any older dog would instantly appreciate the FlexGel difference.
258
Patricia McConnell is the real deal: An educated, experienced dog trainer with a lovely and evocative writing style, who offers dog owners insight as to their beloved companions’ behavior and good training and handling advice based on sound behavioral science. We’ve been ardent fans for years, especially of her 2002 book, The Other End of the Leash: Why We Do What We Do Around Dogs. That title helped people appreciate how the human’s and the dog’s experience of the world are different, why this frequently leads to misunderstandings and gaps in interspecies communication, and how we can more effectively understand, live with, and manage our dogs.
This book delves deeper into the shared emotional life of dogs and humans. In the hands of the wrong author, that would likely be fuzzy or irrelevant or both. In fact, in recent years there have been numerous best-sellers written by amateur dog owners that cover lots of the same territory.
What elevates Dr. McConnell’s work above others is her gift for noticing and clarifying the subtlest interactions between dogs and their people, and illuminating the biological, chemical, and evolutionary drives that influence those interactions.
When we better understand what is going on inside a dog when he wears a certain expression or assumes a particular posture, and we learn precisely how an emotion like anger predicts our physical responses, we can move past reacting to our dogs’ behavior in nonproductive ways. McConnell helps us advance to the level where we can compassionately and correctly interpret our dogs’ behavior, and respond with appropriate, kind, clear behavior of our own. That’s a literal prescription for a better dog/human relationship.
288
Food-dispensing toys are a boon to bored dogs and their busy owners. If it was up to us, few dogs would take their daily kibble from bowls. Instead, you’d enrich your dog’s day by delivering that kibble in a way that requires physical and mental effort over an extended period of time.
We’ve long advocated the use of Kongs and other rubberized toys for this purpose. However, we frequently hear owners complain that their dogs chew up (and sometimes swallow pieces) of their tough, but not indestructible, food-dispensing toys.
The TreatStik is an elegantly simple alternative. It’s made of hard, tough nylon, so it doesn’t invite chewing, but it can withstand the efforts of dogs who attempt to extract the food by brute force. These efforts are so unrewarding, especially in comparison to the strategy that results in the most generous payout nosing the toy again and again that even dogs with a history of chewing rubber toys change their strategy to the more rewarding nudge, nudge, nudge.
288
TreatStik comes in just two sizes (small and large) and four colors. A cap on the large end unscrews for easy loading and cleaning, and the toy is dishwasher safe.
Still a Favorite…
Dogs who don’t chew up their Kong toys, and who need even more distraction in their days perhaps to help them deal with separation anxiety can benefit hugely from KongTime.
We wrote about KongTime at length in “Help for the Home-Alone Dog” in the September 2005 issue. KongTime is a machine that dispenses up to four food-filled toys, at random intervals, over a period of either four or eight hours (you select which). The dog’s anticipation of the toy-drops and the time it takes him to extract the food from the toys help him get through otherwise tedious (and perhaps anxiety-producing) days. Often this is enough to keep dogs with separation anxiety from barking all day, compulsively chewing on themselves, or trashing your house!
We like to recommend the device to people who are planning to get a new dog or puppy, in an effort to help them prevent the onset of boredom or anxiety-related destructive behavior. KongTime runs on batteries, and is easy to load and clean. It comes with four medium or large Kongs, and detailed instructions for its use.
KongTime best helps dogs with separation anxiety when used as one part of a life-enrichment program; further changes in the dog’s management may also be required. Note: KongTime is not recommended for multiple-dog households.
We’re not wimps. We’ve given shots, squeezed anal sacs, taken out stitches, and worse. But we still dread clipping dogs’ nails especially thick, black nails. We shudder at the thought of clipping too much off and hitting the “quick” the blood-filled, sensitive core of the nail. The dog jumps and yelps, you jump and yelp, blood goes everywhere . . . And if you don’t cut off enough, you have to do it again sooner.
We Can Hardly Wait…
QuickFinder is supposed to end all the drama. It’s a pair of guillotine-style nail clippers that utilizes biomedical technology to detect the presence of blood vessels. Position the clippers too far back on the nail and a red light indicates, “Do not trim.” When you’re close, a yellow light indicates caution. And when your position is just right, a green light says, “Go for it!”
288
MiracleCorp expects to have the clippers on the market this month . . . but we’ve heard that before from the manufacturers of products we were eagerly awaiting. The hazards of international product manufacturing can mean we may have to wait a while to receive and test this promising product. If it works like the prototype we saw in action, we’ll let you know and we’ll buy several!
We’ve come so far since those dark days just over a decade ago when virtually all dog training was accomplished through the use of force and compulsion. I know those days well; I was quite skilled at giving collar corrections with choke chains and attained several high-scoring obedience titles with my dogs using those methods. And as a shelter worker responsible for the euthanasia of unwanted dogs for whom we couldn’t find homes, I was convinced that a little pain in the name of training was acceptable and necessary to create well-behaved dogs who would have lifelong loving homes.
In fact, when I enrolled my Australian Kelpie pup in the now-renowned Dr. Ian Dunbar’s first-ever puppy-training classes at our shelter in Marin County, California, I was so sure that using physical corrections in training was the only way to go, that I dropped out of the class after just two sessions; I was convinced he was ruining my dog with training treats!
It was several more years before I crossed over to the positive side of dog training, thanks in large part to my wonderful dog Josie, who gently showed me the error of my ways one day by hiding under the back deck when I brought out her dog training equipment. Her quiet eloquence made me realize, finally, the damage I was doing to our relationship with tools and techniques that relied on the application of pain and intimidation to force her to comply. I threw away the choke chains and began my journey toward a more positive perspective on training.
What Makes Positive Training Different?
Today, in many areas of the country a dog is at least as likely to be enrolled in a class with a trainer who uses positive methods as one who still employs old-fashioned choke chain or prong-collar coercion. As more dog owners and dog trainers see the light, clickers, treat bags, and positive reinforcement replace metal collars, shocks, and dominance theory. Many trainers who still fall back on compulsion tools will at least start with dog-friendlier methods, resorting to force and intimidation only when positive training seems not to work for them. Dogs and humans alike are delighted to discover a kinder, gentler method that still gets results.
Trainers, behaviorists, and dog owners are realizing that this is more than just a philosophical difference, or a conflict between an ethic that says we should be nice to animals versus a more utilitarian approach to training. While both methods can produce well-trained dogs, the end result is also significantly different. With positive training, the goal is to develop a dog who thinks and works cooperatively with his human as part of a team, rather than a dog who simply obeys commands.
Positive trainers report that dogs trained effectively with coercion are almost universally reluctant to offer behaviors and are less good at problem-solving. Fearing the “corrections” that result when they make mistakes, they seem to learn that the safest course is to do nothing unless and until they’re told to do something.
In sharp contrast, dogs who have been effectively trained with positive methods tend to be masters at offering behaviors. Give them a new training challenge and they almost immediately set about trying to solve the puzzle. In fact, one of the criticisms often voiced by trainers who don’t understand or accept the positive training paradigm is that our dogs are too busy always “throwing” behaviors instead of lying quietly at our feet like “good” dogs. This conflict in perspectives is illustrated graphically by a T-shirt belonging to one of my trainer friends, Katy Malcolm, CPDT, of Canine Character, LLC, in Arlington, Virginia.
“Behave!” proclaims the front of the shirt in bold letters. To the average disciplinarian, “Behave!” means “Sit still; don’t move!” But the back of Katy’s shirt says, “Do lots of stuff!” Positive trainers see the word “Behave!” as an action verb and encourage their dogs to offer lots of behaviors.
Another criticism of positive training is that the dogs are spoiled and out of control because, while the dogs are highly reinforced for doing good stuff, no one ever tells them what not to do. “Dogs,” the critics say, “must know there are consequences for inappropriate behaviors.”
We don’t disagree with this statement. Positive does not mean permissive. We just have different ideas about the necessary nature of the negative consequence. When one is needed, positive trainers are most likely to use “negative punishment” (taking away a good thing), rather than “positive punishment” (the application of a bad thing). As an adjunct to that, we counsel the generous use of management to prevent the dog from practicing (and getting rewarded for) undesirable behaviors.
The result? Since all living things repeat behaviors that are rewarding, and those behaviors that aren’t rewarded extinguish (go away), the combination of negative punishment and management creates a well-trained dog at least as easily as harsh or painful corrections and without the very real potential for relationship damage that is created by the use of physical punishment.
One of the most significant reasons for not using physical punishment or force with dogs is the potential for eliciting or exacerbating aggressive behaviors from them.
This was illustrated by an English Bulldog in a recent episode of the National Geographic Channel’s show, “The Dog Whisperer.” Cesar Millan, the star of the show, spent several hours intimidating the Bulldog on a hot Texas day, in an effort to get the dog to “submit,” until the dog finally inflicted a significant bite to Millan’s hand in a futile attempt at self-defense. Millan brushed the incident aside as insignificant, apparently blissfully unaware that he had provided the dog with the opportunity to successfully practice the undesirable behavior (aggression).
Even if the dog’s reaction falls short of a flesh-shredding defense, the relationship between dog and owner can be significantly damaged as the dog learns to fear or resent the angry, unpredictable responses of his human. Given our odd primate body language and behaviors, we are undoubtedly confusing enough to our canine companions, without adding what to them must seem like completely unprovoked, incomprehensible explosions of violence.
Crossing Over
Increasingly, trainers are entering the profession who learned their craft without an early foundation of coercion training. This is a good thing! However, there are enough old-fashioned trainers around that positive trainers still find themselves working with a fair number of “crossover dogs” those who are convinced that they must not dare offer a behavior for fear of punishment.
It can be frustrating to owners and trainers alike to work through the dog’s conditioned shutdown response to the training environment. Shaping exercises, especially “free-shaping” that reinforces virtually any behavior to start with, are ideal for encouraging a crossover dog to think outside the box. This serves the same purpose for crossover owners and trainers as well! (See “The Shape of Things to Come,” March 2006.)
It takes time to rebuild the trust of a dog who has learned to stay safe by waiting for explicit instructions before proceeding. It’s well worth the effort. The most rewarding and exciting part of training for me is watching the dawning awareness on a dog’s face that he controls the consequences of his behavior, and that he can elicit good stuff from his trainer by offering certain behaviors. We never, ever, experienced that in the “old days.” I used to take “sit” for granted, because if the dog didn’t sit when I asked, I made him do it.
Today, I never get over the thrill of that moment when the dog understands, for the first time, that he can make the clicker “Click!” (and receive a treat) simply by choosing to sit. It keeps training eternally fresh and exciting.
Not Quite Convinced?
So why, given all the available scientific and anecdotal evidence about the success of positive training, do some dog trainers and owners cling stubbornly to the old ways? Because it works for them much of the time? Resistance to change? Fear of the unknown?
It pains me that so many in the U.S. are still so far away from the positive end of the dog-training continuum. The celebrity status of Cesar Millan is evidence that dog owners and trainers are more than willing to buy into the coercion-and-intimidation approach to training, and that the use of force is an ingrained part of our culture.
Old-fashioned methods can work. Decades of well-behaved dogs and the owners who loved them can attest to that. So why should they bother to cross over to the positive side? The short answer is that positive training works, it’s fun, and it does not have the potential to cause stress and physical injury to our dogs through the application of force, pain, and intimidation. It takes the blame away from the dog and puts the responsibility for success where it belongs on human shoulders.
In the old days, if a dog didn’t respond well to coercion we claimed there was something wrong with the dog, and continued to increase the level of force until he finally submitted. If he didn’t submit he was often labeled defective and discarded for a more compliant model. With the positive paradigm, it’s our role as the supposedly more intelligent species to understand our dogs and find a way that works for them rather than forcing them into a one-size-fits-all mold.
The longer answer is that it encourages an entire cultural mindset to move away from aggression and force as a way to achieve goals. The majority of dog owners and trainers who have fun (and success) using positive methods with their dogs come to realize that it works with all creatures, including the human species. They feel better about training and find themselves less likely to get angry with their dogs, understanding that behavior is simply behavior, not some maliciously deliberate attempt on the dog’s part to challenge their authority.
People who use positive methods to affect relationships get nicer. It feels nice to be nice. Children learn to respect and understand other living beings instead of learning to be violent with them.
When training programs founder, positive trainers are more apt to seek new solutions rather than falling back on force and pain, or worse, blaming and possibly discarding the dog for not adapting to our rigid concept of training. Indeed, in the last two decades, during which time positive training has gained a huge following, we’ve made even more advances in our training creativity and our understanding of behavior, canine and otherwise, and have even more positive options, tools, and techniques.
So, why positive? It’s simply the best way to train.
Pat Miller, CPDT, is Whole Dog Journal’s Training Editor.Miller lives in Hagerstown, Maryland, siteof her Peaceable Paws training center. Sheis also the author of The Power of PositiveDog Training and Positive Perspectives:Love Your Dog, Train Your Dog.
Does a worried dog sing a worried song? A dog’s worried “song” is often expressed in quirky, repetitive behaviors and anxiety disorders known as Canine Compulsive Disorder (CCD).
A dog with CCD does more than exhibit anxiety in the face of an immediate threat; he often compulsively repeats a behavior that has nothing to do with escaping a danger or trigger. This is an excessive response; this level of worry is beyond immediate survival and, ironically, often results in the dogcausing himself harm.
Dogs with CCD commonly exhibit behaviors such as licking their forelegs incessantly, chasing their tails or spinning in circles, monotonous barking, air-snapping, nail or foot chewing, sucking on the flank, ingesting nonfood objects, over-drinking water, and other repetitive behaviors. These behaviors may appear to have no immediate causation, though they may serve to relieve the dogs’ anxieties.
The first order of business for a dog exhibiting signs of CCD is to have a complete examination by a holistic veterinarian. If the vet determines that there is no medical condition underlying the repetitive behavior, review the dog’s environment and lifestyle. Consider the breed. Some breeds are genetically predisposed to particular manifestations of CCD. For example, herding breeds often find odd things to chase or nip at (including shadows, rays of light, flies, or dust motes), while retrieving breeds may compulsively mouth or suck toys or blankets.
Dogs who are kenneled or kept indoors many hours a day can become frustrated from lack of exercise and stimulation, and have a higher possibility of developing CCD. Confinement is probably one of the greatest contributors to CCD. Dogs are not loners; being left alone for long periods of time can cause the type of stress that leads to anxiety disorders. Animals exposed to consistent conflict or stress within a household often exhibit repetitive behaviors.
Knowing the genesis of the behavior helps to determine how to approach resolving CCD. Sometimes it is as simple as realizing that the dog is inadvertently being rewarded for an unwanted repetitive behavior, such as hyper-jumping, when all the dog really needs is attention. Providing the dog with direction and positive reinforcement for appropriate behavior can go a long way in resolving a number of problem behaviors. Punishment rarely extinguishes canine behaviorsassociated with CCD; in fact, punishing the animal usually causes further stress.
Combine OCD Treatments
There are many alternatives to pharmaceutical approaches to help a dog overcome CCD. Acupressure is known to reduce the dog’s stress level while simultaneously establishing new energetic patterns that can support behavior change. Consulting a professional trainer to help design a behavior modification program can be helpful. There are also homeopathic, herbal, essential oil, and flower essence remedies available to support a dog who is contending with long-term stressors resulting in compulsive behaviors.
The most effective approach to working with CCD is usually a combined approach. Acupressure offers the benefit of enhancing the effectiveness of behavior modification, herbal, and other remedies. Acupressure is based on the principals of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). From the TCM perspective, the extremely deep level of worry that underlies CCD indicates a disturbance of the animal’s spirit and sense that his basic needs are not being met.
When a dog is highly frustrated or conflicted for an extended period, his anxiety builds and his concern for his very survival increases. To relieve this anxiety, he may repetitively lick his foreleg until it is raw or chew his own paw two very common expressions of anxiety. If an animal hurts himself, we know that his spirit has been seriously injured and his sense of security on earth is deeply threatened.
Acupressure Point Selection
There are specific acupressure points pools of energy on the dog’s body that can be stimulated to relieve a dog’s anxiety and support his self-confidence and sense of security.
The following acupressure points (also called “acupoints”) can be used to calm the spirit by relieving anxiety, stress, and worry while also addressing behavior problems and hyperactivity: Conception Vessel 14 (CV14), Governing Vessel 20 (GV 20), and Heart 7 (HT 7).
In addition, Stomach 45 (ST 45) and Spleen 1 (SP 1) can be used to promote the dog’s “grounding” and sense of belonging while also calming his spirit, clearing his mind, and resolving depression.
Acupressure Point Work Techniques
Each of the acupoints mentioned and identified in the chart below are bilateral; they are located on and should be addressed on both sides of the dog’s body.
Place the soft, fleshy portion of the tip of your thumb on the point and press down gently yet with intention. Count slowly to 30 while applying pressure or until the dog shows that he has experienced an energy release, by yawning, licking, stretching, rolling over, passing gas, or moving away. Then move to the next acupoint.
Another point work technique, which can be used especially if you want to increase the dog’s energy (if he seems depressed or lethargic), is to use your index and middle finger to scratch the acupoint. Again, count to 30 slowly or move to the next point when the dog indicates he has released the energy from the point.
While you hold each acupoint, think about how much you love the dog and want to meet his needs so that he will feel secure and he can let go of all his earthly worries.
Repeating this acupressure session every three or four days for four to six weeks will help the dog feel more comfortable and relaxed, especially if the other environmental, lifestyle, and social issues have been resolved.
Amy Snow and Nancy Zidonis are the authors of The Well-ConnectedDog: A Guide to Canine Acupressure, Acu-Cat: A Guide to FelineAcupressure, and Equine Acupressure: A Working Manual. Theyfounded Tallgrass Animal Acupressure Institute, which offers apractitioner certificate program and training programs worldwide,plus books, meridian charts, and videos. Contact them or purchasethese products at (888) 841-7211 or animalacupressure.com.
Not long ago, I was talking with Jay Weinstein, professional chef and editor of Kitchen & Cook, another one of Belvoir Publications of magazines, at a meeting with our publisher in Florida. Weinstein asked me where I had flown in from. I told him I had attended a pet products show in Chicago, and was touring some dog food factories on the trip, as well. Ugh! Jay protested, his fine dining sensibilities temporarily offended. Why do they have to be called dog food factories? Why can’t they be called dog food kitchens, at least? Or pet nutrition facilities?
Jay has a point but it was my fault that he was aggrieved by my off hand expression. I’m sure none of the pet food company executives who were proud enough of their facilities to invite me to tour them actually call their workplaces dog food factories. While the very phrase dog food historically has been a sort of insult, the industry itself has become increasingly respectable.
Once primarily the repository for waste products from the human food manufacturing industry, pet food production is a fast-growing industry. And, significantly, the tippy-top end of the market, represented by foods that are made with all (or mostly) human-grade ingredients, is the fastest-growing segment of the market. A headline in the November 2006 Petfood Industry magazine announced, The primary market driver in the US continues to be conversion to higher-priced petfoods. We’ve always focused Whole Dog Journal’s attention on the top end of the pet food market the products made with the best-quality ingredients that money could buy. That’s because we strongly believe that products made with the freshest, best-quality, least-processed, most wholesome ingredients are the healthiest foods for dogs, and the ones that are most likely to support glowing health in the dogs who consume them.
288
While our focus pleased the makers of products that we admired manufacturers whose philosophies are in alignment with ours some pet food industry insiders have complained to us that food is more than its ingredients. What did they mean?
Manufacturing Matters
What concerns these particular critics are pet food companies that purchase high-quality ingredients, but use lower-cost, inferior production facilities to manufacture their products.
Conceivably, two different manufacturers could use the exact same ingredients and formula and end up with widely divergent products in terms of cost and quality. Comparison of the foods based solely on the ingredients (such as we do in our annual food reviews) would understandably aggravate the executives who spent a lot more money and time to produce their company’s foods in the cleanest, best-managed, most-inspected facilities available.
A partial list of the potential hazards of poor manufacturing practices include:
Inattention to quality control standards results in acceptance and use of inferior or unsafe ingredients (i.e., mycotoxin-infected grains, rancid fats or oils, etc.).
Product quality is inconsistent (i.e., dry foods are not always dried to a standard level of moisture, nutrient levels vary widely in the finished product).
Product has a higher probability of being contaminated with chemical hazards (pesticides, cleaning agents); pests (insects, rodents, birds, or their feces); foreign objects (such as ingredient packaging, bits of metal or plastic); and biological hazards (bacteria, toxin-producing mold).
Inadequate testing results in excessive variation of nutrient levels or undetected contamination.
Product does not contain what its label says it contains (wrong ingredients are used, substitutes are made, measurements are incorrect, ingredients are omitted, or product is mislabelled).
Problems exist with packaging (faults with seals or seams, packages damaged in storage or transit).
Poor inventory control means food spends too much of its shelf life in a warehouse before being shipped to retail outlets; may arrive at consumers’ homes at the end of its “best used” by stage.
Unfortunately, while it’s clear that good manufacturing practices matter, it’s impossible for a consumer to determine which pet foods were made well when it’s still difficult just to find out where pet foods are made! And even if you do learn the origin of your dog’s favorite food, there are very few ways to determine a manufacturer’s reliability and competence.
288
What I’ve seen
I’ve now toured nine pet food and pet treat production facilities in seven states. (Note: Since it was expressly not my intention to review or inspect any manufacturing facility to which I was invited, I’m not going to name or locate each facility I toured, or be specific in my descriptions of each site. My interest in each plant was educational, not investigative.)
I’ve witnessed the manufacture of extruded and baked dry dog (and cat) foods, baked “cookie” and “biscuit” type treats, dried treats and chews made from a variety of animal tissues, and canned food. I’ve yet to visit a facility that makes raw frozen diets or dehydrated diets, though I have received invitations and plan to see these foods made as soon as possible.
Interestingly, each facility I’ve toured seemed to be managed with an emphasis on different criteria.
The pride of one dry food plant seemed to be its on-site laboratory complete with a well-educated, full-time dedicated lab staff and its workers, who were retained long-term with larger than average salaries and generous benefits. The manager of that plant explained that his company leadership strongly felt that the longer each employee was retained, the more valuable they became.
At another facility, one that manufactured oven-baked foods and treats, certification and high scores in a variety of quality-control programs seemed to be the management’s primary focus.
At one canned food plant, top-quality ingredients were foremost on the manager’s mind; other aspects of the operation seemed to be hardly considered. I had a similar experience at the smallest extruded food plant I’ve seen so far. The ingredients were top-shelf; the manufacturing process itself seemed comically informal. At another cannery tour, special emphasis was put on the mixing and cooking processes; it appeared that extraordinary resources had been invested in advanced technology to achieve the most consistent results in those areas. The newest dry food plant I toured was similarly equipped with new and advanced computer-based technology for controlling ingredient inventory, mixing, cooking, cooling, coating, and packaging. It was far more impressive than some of the human food manufacturing operations I’ve toured.
288
Size Matters
I haven’t been in any plants operated by the industry giants Nestle Purina, Mars (which, in 2006, purchased Doane Pet Care, the largest maker of private label pet foods), Iams (Proctor & Gamble), Hill’s Pet Nutrition (Colgate Palmolive), and Del Monte. At one point I made a huge effort to gain access to one of these behemoths and got nowhere.
I have interviewed a number of pet food industry executives who spent decades at one or another of the giant companies, who confirmed my guesses of what’s inside the huge plants: Lots of gleaming machinery and floors, and the most inexpensive ingredients available.
This gets to what seems to me to be the most significant trade-off: The bigger a manufacturing plant is (the greater its production capacity), the more likely it is to be impeccably clean and modern. Its products are more likely to be consistent . . . and the less likely it is to use fresh, whole ingredients in its products.
In contrast, in the plants I saw with the smallest operational capacity, lavish attention was paid to the ingredients of the food . . . but the sanitation was not impressive, and equipment for lab testing of the product was not in evidence. Small facilities, especially those with limited production runs (making food just a few days a week, or in extremely small batches), may lack the full-time, well-trained staff needed to produce foods with a consistent level of quality. While I’m unaware of any specific problems arising from the shortcomings I perceived, it’s generally true that smaller production facilities tend to struggle more with product consistency than the “big guys”.
That said, it’s only fair to mention that the most devastating incidents in pet food history, where many dogs died as a result of a problem with food manufacturing, involved moderately large- or very large-volume plants.
Overall Impressions
All in all, I have been impressed with the facilities I’ve seen. As my editorial compatriot noted, “dog food factory” conjures up images of a disgustingly smelly, unclean facility. Only one of the nine plants I’ve toured could possibly meet that description (and probably not for long, as the plant is slated for relocation to a new facility). The plants I’ve toured do smell like dog food but fresh, aromatic dog food, not rancid or putrid. Keeping in mind that the plants I toured invited me to their facilities, and each manufactures high-end foods, using high-quality ingredients, it shouldn’t be a surprise that all of the raw materials I saw (meat, fruit, vegetables, grains, dairy products, and herbs) were uniformly fresh-looking and absolutely of supermarket quality. (One plant owner complained that she has to order twice as many avocados as needed for her product formulations, since her employees eat as many avocados as they use in the pet food!)
288
Most of the “fresh” meats I saw were frozen in big blocks, and are fed into the processing machinery still frozen. The only exception to this was one large facility where the fresh chicken was deeply chilled in huge, hot-tub-sized tubs. Temperature control was maintained in all cases.
It’s not quite fair to directly compare the two gourmet treat manufacturing facilities I toured with the much higher-volume food and biscuit plants. Suffice to say that Kitchen & Cook would be perfectly comfortable with the mixing, baking, and presentation of the cookies, pretzels, and even cakes produced for dogs in the gourmet treat bakeries.
My next goal is to tour facilities that make human-edible products that can also be fed to dogs. These foods, made in factories (or “kitchens”!) that produce human foods, are increasingly popular. I’m curious to see how (and if) these facilities differ from the pet food plants I’ve seen.
I’ll describe the step-by-step production process for dry and moist foods in our upcoming annual food reviews. The dry food review will appear next month.
Lately, it seems like there’s an epidemic of people around me who can’t see their own and their dog’s training progress. In a similar vein, I’ve been surprised by the number of clients who seem to take their dog’s improvement for granted, yet continually expect more and more.
Apparently, my new job is to remind dog owners to keep perspective, the long view, when training their companions. It takes time to train difficult dogs and manage serious canine behavior problems. But if you apply yourself with self-discipline and good will, you will see overall progress if you remember to look for it and take the time to appreciate it! There will be setbacks and dips, because learning and change are like that. But when viewed with a bit of perspective, the progress becomes obvious.
Mission Creep One of my clients has a dog with a serious prey drive. If the dog spotted a squirrel in the park, she would go berserk, to the extent that her owner could barely drag her away from the park.
We used a combination of positive reinforcement, managing the environment, counter-conditioning, and desensitization, and the dog improved, to the point that I hadn’t heard from the owner for some time. Until he called to complain that the techniques were evidently no longer working, because “My dog still chases deer on the trails.”
Talk about mission creep! The dog’s progress has been so steady that her owner had nearly forgotten that his original goal had been to walk his dog on leash through a city park without incident. And now his goal was many achievements past that.
With persistent probing, I learned that the dog does now come off a running squirrel using positive techniques. Hello?! Hurray for you and your dog! Now let’s figure out how we can deal with the deer situation previously unimaginable! by applying and adjusting the tools that worked with the squirrels.
Human Hangups Another client told me recently that he was very concerned that his dog was doing it “just for the treats” that she wasn’t doing x, y, or z for him, the owner. Sigh.
This man was describing how they could now walk past the fenced yard on their street that contains a lunging, barking, snarling, frothing dog. He said his dog would now turn to him with what he described as a “happy face” instead of pulling and lunging back at that dog. He had originally come to me as a client because his dog was becoming more reactive, earlier in the walk as they approached that yard. They lived on a dead end street and had to pass that house in order to walk anywhere. They had made amazing, wonderful progress using treats, among other tools and techniques.
First, I helped my client look back to the early days of our work, when the only way he could get his dog past her fenced nemesis was to stay on the far sidewalk and proffer a fistful of high-value treats for his dog to nuzzle and slurp. “Remember how grabby the dog was for those treats, how aroused she was?” I asked him.
I reminded him of how they had progressed to click and treating his dog for glancing at the other dog, sometimes tossing the treats on the ground so she was looking down in order to pick up her “paycheck.” How he had learned the importance of deciding where to deliver the treat itself: the ground, his hand, in heel position, slightly ahead of his knee, slightly behind his knee, even slightly across his body so his dog was turning away from the lunging dog to get the treat. How he learned to look for opportunities to reinforce her good behavior with treats.
I walked him through more of the steps we had taken together. “Remember how we had celebrated the first time your dog turned to you on her own accord when the other dog lunged?” I asked him. He had learned to taper the treats, moving from an “open bar” (a fistful of treats no matter what his dog’s behavior), to a rapid-fire click!/treat delivery, to the occasional tiny pause in click!/treats.
Then, gradually, at the rate his dog was successful, he began giving her treats intermittently, substituting jolly talk, pats, and praise as they walked on. And then . . . then we’d started walking in the street, a foot closer to the fence. And closer and closer, increasing the rate of reinforcement each time we reduced the distance. And then we had tapered down the treats, increased the other types of reinforcement, and when his dog seemed ready, closed the distance another foot or so and went through the same routine all over again.
Gotta Believe It to Sell It
“Okay, okay, I get it!” he laughed. “We’ve come a long way. But . . .” We talked some more. As we discussed the situation, I began to understand that although he was happy with the results of the training, he still did not like how he felt when feeding his dog treats. He wanted his dog to behave calmly “for his sake.” He didn’t like the feeling that he had to “pay” his dog for good behavior.
I asked him if he liked his job; he said yes. I asked him if he liked his boss; he replied in the affirmative. I asked him if he would go to work and do his job day after day if he never, ever got paid. His eyes got wide. For a moment I thought I’d reached him but maybe I’d only surprised him, because after thinking for a moment, he said, “But my boss doesn’t feed me, let me sleep in his bed, brush me, and take me for walks. Isn’t that paycheck enough?”
This dog owner’s honesty and ability to identify the source of his reluctance to use certain training methods is admirable. Many dog owners may unconsciously (or consciously!) expect or wish for a certain amount of gratefulness from their dogs, as “repayment” or in consideration of all the time, money, and trouble they can cause. But those are all very human concepts – not anything a dog could ever understand.
I tried to get my client to see that, in order to change his dog’s natural behavior, he would have to use incentives that are meaningful to the dog. “It’s true, your dog takes it for granted that she lives with you and gets fed and so forth; there is no way for her to understand the home with you is hers to lose! How could she?”
I explained that if he wanted his dog to do something that is really, really difficult for her, the rewards for her hard work would have to be very immediate, palpable, and compelling as compelling as it might be if a friend offered him $500 in cash for helping him move an enormous filing cabinet a short distance. If the task seemed impossibly hard if the cabinet was obviously immovable or the distance was too far he’d probably decline to even try. And if there were problems with the compensation if the payment was only $1, or would be given to him in a year’s time, or he’d be paid in something he didn’t care much about, like $500 worth of coupons to a beauty salon again, he’d probably take a pass.
Fortunately, food is a very compelling motivational tool for dogs. They don’t need to know it doesn’t cost us that much!
Gradually, by nibbling away at the concerns and imagery, he and I continued to make progress in his comfort and in his dog’s behavior and improvements in the relationship he and his dog have.
The Real World
A friend, a very knowledgeable pet owner with a shy/reactive dog, e-mailed me about a setback she and her dog experienced recently. She wrote, “I keep getting caught up in the fact that I can’t control the environment.” Well, none of us can, though we can do what we can to prepare.
My friend’s dog is about eight years old. It is only in the past year he has been able to stay calm enough to accept food treats when he is outside, even with no dogs or other animals in sight. She’s done tremendous work with him, and her patience and dedication are impressive. She had recently begun walking the dog on leash in a state park. When she saw other people with dogs approaching, she would move off the trail with her dog thus increasing the distance between her dog and a potential trigger and click and treat (using peanut butter in a squeeze tube). The tactic worked well.
At least until recently, on a walk in the state park, an off-leash dog ran up as she and her dog waited off the trail, dashing right into her dog’s face in an attempt to take his treat! It only took a moment for the off-leash dog to close the space between them, and not surprisingly, a fight broke out. Skin was broken. It was a nasty setback for her work with her dog. For a time, she despaired of the idea of ever taking her dog out on the trails again. She lost sight of their huge progress, and fixated on all that might be lost.
Fortunately, because she is so knowledgeable and has many dog support networks in place, it only took her a short time to come out of the spiral of despair and into planning and repair mode. After all, her dog’s improvement had been huge. For a dog to improve from nutso reactivity to being able to take food when outside and with another dog passing nearby!
She’s setting up dates to walk her dog with other dogs on leash, in a carefully controlled setting. She’s talking with a positive trainer who runs group classes to see if they can work around the edges of her classes so she can do counter-conditioning and desensitization work in an orchestrated environment. So, yes, this was a nasty setback but this owner got back on track with renewed vigor pretty quickly!
When Old Issues Resurface
I’m not immune to the nearsighted syndrome myself. Today I walked my old girl, my Hera-the-WonderDog! in town. This is her perfect time of year. Cool, dry weather. Good for an aging English Bulldog.
It had been a few days since Hera’s last walk in town, and I took us to a street she hadn’t walked in many months. She was excited. She pulled on leash. I was delighted she had that much interest, energy, and vigor. I said “Okay!” and we trotted along at the pace she dictated. Then my breath got short, and I was ready to walk at my pace. So I cued “With me!” She never even flicked an ear in my direction. Instantly I felt a wave of, “But I went at your pace, you should go at mine now!”
What nonsense! I got my clicker out of my pocket and when she was walking beside me, I clicked. She looked at me, and I gave her a treat. I delivered the treat with her in the “heel” position. We walked along with clicks and treats at irregular but frequent intervals. When she saw a chipmunk, I clicked the sighting and she turned away from the chipmunk for her treat, which gave me the chance to cue an “about face.” Periodically I cued “Go play!” her cue for walking at her pace, zigzagging at will, and sniffing as she wishes. Then it was back to my pace and my rules.
Was she just doing it for the treats? And not for me, as my client had worried with his dog? On the one hand, the treats were the paycheck she cared about. On the other hand, we progressed through the spontaneous, remedial training session quickly, positively, and pleasantly, and we both had smiles on our faces and a lilt in our steps. It was a treat-intensive walk, although by the end, I was back to my usual routine with Hera of using praise and play as reinforcers.
How long has it been since she pulled on leash and ignored me when I asked her to do something on our walk? A long time. In fact, I had started to mourn her declining energy, her signs of aging. Suddenly, I was confronted with her ignoring me and, briefly, I, too, lost perspective. I felt disappointed. How silly of me!
Keep Track Perspective can be so elusive. We gain it, we lose it, and we shift our view and our values with the frequency and ease of a school of startled fish!
But we know how to compare what is now to what was last week, last month, last year, or simply last time. We know how to identify trends in behavior and change. It is our job as pet owners as well as the job of dog trainers to do those things, consciously and consistently. Record keeping helps tremendously, even if it’s just a few notes jotted daily in a diary or journal. But failing that, simply look back honestly and compare not just one event, but the series of events.
We owe it to ourselves and to our dogs to see and appreciate any and all improvements and to keep working. To see where our progress is stunted, and try to make changes. To keep our perspective, and keep ourselves honest. Those of us who are trainers owe it to our clients to point out these things and to help them start seeing them on their own.
It’s so easy to lose heart when there is one setback in your dog’s behavior. It’s easy to become tired and discouraged. But it is so important to stop and compare and identify progress and trends. We can do it. We have these big, complex brains. I challenge you to go forth and appreciate what you and your dog have done, while making plans to continue onward and make more and more progress!
Does your dog know how to target? If not, the two of you may be missing out on one of the most versatile behaviors to come along since the rise in popularity of the positive dog training philosophy.
Targeting simply means teaching your dog to touch a designated body part to a designated spot the end of a commercially produced target stick, your hand, an object, a location, or anything at all. While much targeting is done with the dog’s nose as the designated body part, you can actually teach your dog to touch with a front or hind foot, his hip, shoulder, ear, or any other moveable piece of his anatomy.
288
We teach nose targeting in my Basic Adult and Puppy classes. Whenever I introduce the exercise to a new group I get puzzled stares from most of the humans in the class. I can just see them thinking, “Why on earth would I want to teach my dog to do that?!” proof that the concept of targeting still has miles to go before gaining familiarity and acceptance in the mainstream pet dog community.
The list of reasons why you want to teach your dog to touch is as long as your arm, and then some. From the serious to the sublime, targeting is useful and fun for canines and humans alike. You can use targeting to teach good manners and dog behaviors such as “Go to your place” and to help your dog learn polite leash walking. “Touch the target” can be used as an emergency recall, or your dog’s cue to ask to go outside.
It also has widespread application for a number of service dog behaviors, can be used to teach agility dogs to hit the contact zones, and give search dogs a tool to communicate that they’ve located sign of the missing person (or pet). Finally, targeting can come into play with an endless variety of entertaining tricks and games. There’s something for everyone.
Getting Ready
It’s almost imperative that you use a reward marker the click! of a clicker or some other quick, sharp sound or word for fast and effective target training. The “touch” behavior happens so quickly that it’s difficult for the dog to understand what he’s being reinforced for absent a conditioned sound that marks the instant of rewardable behavior. If you have not already done so, start by “charging” your clicker teaching your dog that “click!” (or whatever sound you choose to use) means he just earned a reward. Note: If you want to use a verbal marker instead of a clicker, I suggest not using the word “Good.” We frequently tell our dogs they’re good dogs just because we love them. Your reward marker needs to have a very specific meaning: “That behavior just earned a treat!” You don’t want to have to feed your dog a treat every time you tell him he’s a good dog! I suggest using the word “Yes!” or even the word “Click!” as verbal markers.
Charging the clicker is one of the easiest things you’ll ever teach your dog. It’s classic Pavlov (classical conditioning) simply giving the dog a strong positive association between the click or other marker and yummy food. So, assuming you use a clicker, just “click!” it a half-dozen to a dozen times, following each click with a tasty treat, and you will soon be good to go. To test if the clicker is “charged,” wait for your dog to look away and click the clicker once. His head should swivel back to you in anticipation of the treat. If it doesn’t, supply yourself with treats that are more irresistible, and click and treat a few more times.
288
A small percentage of dogs are afraid of the sound of the clicker. When you first introduce it, click it inside a pocket to muffle the sound a bit. If at any time you notice an adverse reaction to the clicker from your dog, charge and use a verbal marker instead.
Basic nose targeting
The easiest body part to start with is the nose or a front paw, since dogs use those two body parts almost exclusively to explore their world. My preference is nose targeting the one we teach in our beginner classes because it’s easy to elicit the behavior, and doesn’t reinforce dogs who might already be a little too free with the use of their paws. Foot is my second choice for an easy and useful targeting behavior.
288
You can capture targeting to your hand, which means getting the complete “touch” behavior, clicking and treating when he does or you can shape it which means clicking and treating for “successive approximations” of moving his nose closer and closer to your hand. (See “The Shape of Things to Come,” Whole Dog Journal March 2006, for more information about shaping.)
Dogs tend to naturally sniff an offered hand, so to “capture” a touch, offer your open palm to your dog at nose level with your fingers pointing toward the ground. If your dog thinks this is an invitation to “Shake,” offer your closed fist instead.
When he sniffs your offered hand, mark the desired behavior with the click! of a clicker (or verbal marker, such as “Yes!”) and give the dog a treat. Repeat until you see him deliberately bump his nose into your hand because he’s figured out he can make you click and treat by touching you. Then add your verbal cue (for example, “Touch!”) just before his nose touches. In short order you’ll be able to prompt him to target to your hand.
288
Of course, it’s not always quite that easy. Your dog may sniff the hand a few times and then stop, either because your hand is no longer interesting to him, or because he’s just focusing on the source of the treats. If he needs a jump start, rub something tasty on your hand and offer it for a sniff or a lick. You’re on your way!
Once you’ve established the targeting behavior to your hand, you can transfer it to another object. Hold the target object in your hand, cue the behavior, and give him a click and treat when he touches the target. Fade the presence of your hand by moving it away from the target object until he’ll touch it by itself.
Practice targeting to enough different objects, and your dog will happily touch any object you indicate, the first time you ask. You can even name several objects and teach him to touch different ones on cue, a behavior called target discrimination.
Any time you want to add a new cue for a behavior, use the new cue, followed by the old one. When you name an object, you’re really just giving that specific object a new cue.
For example, if you set a gallon water jug on the floor and say “Touch!” your dog touches it. Now say “Jug, touch!” After enough repetitions (“enough” will vary, depending on the dog and how touch-savvy he is), you can drop the “Touch” cue and just say “Jug!” to get your dog to touch the water bottle.
288
Applied Targeting
Ready to start making use of your dog’s new behavior? Try these: ¡ Polite leash walking. This is one of the most useful applications of targeting. When your dog starts to lag or move too far ahead of you, position your target hand or the end of the target stick where you’d like the dog to be (traditionally at your left side) and ask him to “Touch!” Click and treat when he’s in position.
To keep him there, give your “Touch” cue more frequently, and reinforce randomly very frequently at first, then less so as he gets better at polite walking. If you have a small dog and don’t want to bend over for him to touch your hand, teach him to touch a target stick and offer that as you walk, instead.
Close a door/drawer. Teach your dog to target to a plastic disk (like a cottage cheese container lid) in your hand. Then stick the lid to a cupboard door or drawer with rubber glue or double-sided tape at your dog’s nose level, and ask him to touch it there.
You may need to have your hand near the lid at first, and fade the presence of your hand or not, if your dog is really adept at targeting. When he’ll consistently touch the lid on cue, shape for harder touches by only clicking the ones that move the door, at least a little. Eventually he’ll close the door all the way.
If you don’t want a plastic lid on your cupboard forever, fade its presence by cutting it into increasingly smaller circles, until there’s no lid left and your dog has transferred the “touch” to the door itself.
Turn on/off a lamp. Gotta love those touch on/touch off lamps; they’re perfect for target training! Show your dog the lamp and ask him to “Touch!” If your dog still needs some assistance, put your hand behind the lamp to help him touch it and gradually fade the presence of your hand.
Be careful with this one! I had a friend whose husband accused her of not leaving the light on when she went to bed before he did until they realized their Sheltie was turning off the light after her mistress fell asleep.
Go to your place. Get out another cottage cheese lid (since you cut up the last one) and stick it where you want your dog’s “place” to be. Ask him to target to the lid from increasing distances, until you can send him to his spot from across the room, and eventually even from another room.
When he’s targeting to his spot easily, start asking him to lie down when he gets there. Then change his cue for the behavior to “Place!” –or whatever cue you prefer by using the new cue first, followed by the old cue, or “Place Touch!” Eventually you can drop the “touch” and he’ll go to his spot and lie down when you say “Place!”
You can teach him that one particular place is his spot, or you can generalize the behavior and teach him that anywhere you stick a cottage cheese lid is his spot.
Play ball. Teach your dog to push a large ball with his nose one he can’t pick up in his mouth. The hard plastic Jolly Ball is perfect for this, and comes in a variety of sizes from small to very large. When he’s learned this one you can sit on the floor across from him and the two of you can roll the ball back and forth a great game to play when your dog needs exercise and it’s too cold or stormy to go outside. This behavior can also turn your dog into a great babysitter as long as you remember that dogs and small children must always be under direct adult supervision.
Be brave. This is another application of classical conditioning helping your dog develop an association between two different things. Most dogs love targeting once they’ve learned it. What’s not to love? You’re like a treat vending machine your dog pushes the button (your hand), he gets a treat. He pushes the button, he gets a treat. As a result, he has a very positive association a “Yay!!” feeling when you ask him to touch.
Now, say you’re walking down the street with your dog on leash and you have to a garbage collection truck. As you approach, the worker drops a metal garbage can, sending it clattering across the sidewalk 25 feet in front of you. Your dog happens to be a little fearful of loud noises and is now afraid to walk past the can, even though the garbage truck is long gone.
You offer your hand and ask your dog to touch. His brain goes “Yay! Targeting!” and he takes a step forward to touch your hand. You target him past the garbage can, and since he can’t be happy about targeting and afraid of the can at the same time, and because his association with targeting is so positive, not only do you get him past the can, but the positive association has rubbed off and now he thinks garbage cans are pretty cool, too.
Paw Targeting
Some behaviors work better as paw targets than nose targets, especially things that require a little more “oomph” behind the touch turning appliances on and off, for example. Others work equally well either way, and if you teach you dog both, you can choose which one to ask for.
For dogs who are naturally “pawsy,” paw targeting is a breeze. Put something on the floor, and when your dog paws at it, click and treat. When he’s pawing at it reliably, add a verbal cue. Be sure to use a different cue from the one you use for his nose! I use “Foot!” to ask my dogs to target with a paw, “Touch!” for the nose.
If your dog’s not a paw-natural, you can “shape” a foot touch. Start by clicking any movement of one paw while your dog stands or sits in front of you. Pick just one paw or you could end up shaping a tap dance! At first you might just get tiny paw movements, but when your dog figures out what you’re clicking for, his paw movements will become more deliberate and more expansive.
288
When he’s doing significant paw movement, add your “Foot” cue, then place an object on the floor. At first click if his paw lands anywhere near the object, then eventually only if it actually touches the object. Finally, add a new cue for the specific object you’re asking him to touch with his paw. Some paw-touch applications include:
Playing soccer. You already taught him to push a ball with his nose. Now use a different cue for paw-soccer, and you’ve got another good energy-eating game.
Playing a keyboard. This is a great crowd-pleaser for my Scottie, Dubhy; he sits up on a chair and plays an electronic keyboard with his paws. He actually started with a nose-touch on a plastic kiddie piano and graduated to the keyboard.
Five more minutes. Pushing the snooze button on the alarm an obvious application, but don’t let him make you late for work!
Go to your place. Instead of a lid on the wall, teach him to target with his paws to a rug or mat on the floor.
Turning off the TV remote. For an additional challenge, teach him to do this only after you fall asleep watching TV!
Some of my favorite targeting applications are just for fun. At shaping camp we teach our dogs to turn on a smiley-face push light because it’s cute. One of my clients went one better, however. Matt Conaty discovered a great target object at a chain office supply store a push-button gadget. Now when his Jack Russell Terrier, Bally, pushes the button, a recorded voice says “That was easy!” Indeed it was. And fun, too!
Pat Miller, CPDT, is Whole Dog Journal’s Training Editor.Miller lives in Hagerstown, Maryland, siteof her Peaceable Paws training center. Sheis also the author of The Power of Positive Dog Training and Positive Perspectives:Love Your Dog, Train Your Dog.
You presented (“Don’t Whisper,” December 2006) some of the same observations I have made in viewing “The Dog Whisperer,” but I believe that you failed to give him credit for two key points.
The first is his consistent emphasis on the importance of exercise. In almost every instance on his show, owners don’t exercise their dogs and the dogs have behavioral problems. Second, he teaches people that dogs don’t think like humans; acting as if they do can cause problems. As for the lack of depth and oversimplification of dog behaviors, blame it on the lack of time or space for depth that is evident in most television and magazines.
There is much to be learned from your methods and those of Cesar Millan. My dog has needed several approaches and what I’ve learned from Whole Dog Journal and Cesar have been very beneficial.
Kay, via e-mail Mankato, MN
I’ve been trying to articulate why Cesar Millan’s methods bother me so much, and you expressed it perfectly. I don’t want submissive obedience from my dog, I want a companion! While I’m pretty bad at the timing for clicker training, my Silky Terrier is smart enough to learn quickly, and he’s equally good at showing me how he feels about whatever we’re doing. I enjoy the two-way communication we share.
Suzi, via e-mail
The only thing I agree with you on is that some of Cesar Millan’s work should not be tried unless you know exactly what you are doing, especially with aggressive dogs. You should not try what he does without really knowing what you are doing and he states that on his program. He also says that what you do has to be a lifetime effort on your part if you want success.
I do not agree that Cesar wants a subservient dog. He wants to be in control. A lot of dogs are put down because people can’t control them. I have seen too many people that can’t coexist with their dogs because the dog is in control. I have never seen Cesar gain control by harsh methods.
I don’t think that any one person has all of the answers.
Sharon Gibson via e-mail
I love the Dog Whisperer for two main reasons. First, he has convinced me that it is very easy to inadvertently nurture neurotic behavior in your dogs. Second, his methods have saved dogs who would have been euthanized because no other dog trainer was able to modify their aggressive behavior. The program encourages people who are ready to put their “bad” dogs down to give it one more try with him.
I am also a big fan of your publication and Dr. Ian Dunbar and the like. Just today I was practicing the eye contact exercise you described a few issues ago to try to get my Weimaraner to stop pulling after squirrels on her daily walk.
Barbara Via e-mail
You expressed the thoughts I’ve had about Cesar Millan. I first saw him on “Oprah.” I was excited to see what he would offer her to correct/help her dog, Sophie, who had on-leash dog-dog aggression, because our pooch suffers from the same. I ran out and purchased all his books and DVDs, but soon came to realize that I disagreed with so much of his training theories and techniques. I became very disappointed with how everyone jumped on the bandwagon due to his celebrity.
I agree with him only in that dogs need more consistent daily exercise and a calm and assertive (within reason) leader, but his form of discipline and rough handling is very disheartening! I will never be a fan of his.
Rebecca Richardson Vancouver, WA
Just a note to thank you for the nice article on vaccinations and risks (“Shots Fired,” November 2006). When I was in veterinary school, we were taught that vaccinations did no harm. We now know that is not the case. I never give a vaccine without questioning, “Is this a valid and necessary step to protect this pet from disease?” I am currently comfortable with expecting three-years plus of immunity. At my clinic, we have been following that protocol for more than nine years. We, too, have seen a decrease in immune-related diseases.
Thanks for a fine resource for my clients, and often enlightening for myself.
Mona L. Gitter, DVM Noblesville Square Animal Clinic Noblesville, IN
Your article on vaccines could not have come at a better time. I recently found a puppy in the middle of the road, with a collar but no tags or microchip. We put up signs and called the Humane Society but nobody has claimed him.
I had no idea whether he had any vaccinations, so I had a vet give him one shot. Of course it was a five-way vaccination the sort that I specifically did not want. Since then, I have been trying to locate single vaccines for Parvo, Distemper, and Adenovirus 1, with little success. Do you have any suggestions in this respect?
Ute Miethe via e-mail
We strongly recommend finding another veterinarian to work with in the future, one who is willing to do (or has already done) the homework needed to locate individual vaccines. While owners can legally purchase and administer some vaccines, in our opinion, the accompanying veterinary examination and opportunity to discuss other health issues with a like-minded vet is too valuable to pass up. Consider yourself warned
I hope you might publish something regarding paper shredders and dogs. I work from home and have a large paper shredder that I kept on “AutoFeed” in my den. I also have a Bearded Collie who has long hair on her tail. She was standing next to the paper shredder, wagging her tail, when the paper shredder just sucked her hair in.
Obviously, I now keep it off when I am not using it, but I would like to alert other readers to this potential hazard.
1. Teach your dog basic skills, such as a very quick recall and a “go” cue. That’s a bare minimum for “agility” training, even if it’s only played in your living room.
2. Keep all your practice sessions light and fun and always positive. Agility competitors have a saying, “Agility dogs don’t make mistakes; only their handlers do!”
3. Reinforce your dog’s attention and self-control as frequently and generously as possible, especially when he’s first learning these important skills.
Owning an aggressive, fearful, or other type of “special needs” dog is stressful. When your dog overreacts to other dogs or just the stimulus of being out in the world by barking, lunging, and exhibiting overexcited, out-of-control behavior, it can become so unpleasant that you start leaving him at home more and more. Of course, this coping mechanism will only contribute to your dog’s behavior issues becoming worse.
Agility may just be the thing for you! Agility is a fun dog sport that involves the dog running over planks, through tunnels, and leaping over a variety of jumps, while the nearby handler walks quickly or runs along directing his activity. In competitions, the dog being judged is the only dog in the ring, so with some self-control training and good management you may even be able to compete with your difficult dog. If that sounds like a huge leap, consider the skills your dog will acquire and benefits he will reap along the way:
Tony Rider
Increased attention is one of the many benefits resulting from agility training. If a dog is looking at you, she can’t be looking at another dog or a person at the same time. This makes attention a behavior that is beautifully incompatible with most aggressive dog behaviors.
The process of learning agility can be therapeutic for a difficult dog by building his confidence if he’s shy or fearful; many dogs who exhibit aggression are actually fearful and lacking in self-confidence.
Self-control is taught and reinforced in every phase of agility training.
Finally, because it’s fun for dogs and their people, it can help repair damage done to their relationship, and deepen the bondsbetween them.
Why Try Agility with Your Dog?
In many cases, people with difficult dogs spend most of their time trying to get their dogs not to do something don’t jump, don’t bark, don’t pull, don’t lunge. Agility gives those dogs something easy and enjoyable to do, and do with enthusiasm!
Agility is a game that you play with your dog. Play is emotionally incompatible with the emotions linked to aggression. If your dog is playful she is less likely to bark or lunge at a person or other dog.
Just as “rope courses” build confidence in people, agility course training builds confidence in dogs. At first you are certain you can’t possibly scale the wall; once you have done it you feel empowered and more confident. As dogs learn to leap over hurdles, run through tunnels, and balance over planks, their confidence increases. Since most aggression is based on fear, this increase in confidence is helpful. A more confident dog is usually a less fearful dog.
Every part of agility requires a certain amount of self-control some parts require a lot! which is always a benefit for an aggressive dog. Once a dog has learned that agility is a fun game, she will be eager to start performing the obstacles. Before she is allowed to play, however, she has to wait at the start line until her handler releases her. This is just the kind of self-control game that is beneficial to a dog with aggression issues.
Dogs also have to exhibit extraordinary self-control at an obstacle called the table. At this obstacle, the dog is asked to leap onto the table top and sit or down, holding that position for five seconds. Most dogs consider it more fun to be moving. Learning to hold still earns her the reward (positive reinforcement) of getting to continue with more running and jumping.
Agility can even help canines who don’t enjoy the company of other dogs learn to ignore them. They may even learn that dogs near agility equipment signal impending fun a little classical conditioning.
Stress and Agility
Stress is like gasoline to the fire of aggression. The movement and exercise provided in agility play are superb ways to help most dogs to de-stress.
That said, some dogs are so stressed that playing agility, especially around other dogs, is overly arousing for them. For these dogs a different game, individual (not group) classes, or maybe even a game that is played at home is more appropriate. But don’t give up on them! Find a good agility instructor to help you; cleanrun.com features a wealth of information on agility training schools.
An excellent trainer will help you determine what works best for your dog, adjusting what she teaches as you all work together. Good agility trainers do not use choke chains, prong collars, squirt guns, shock collars, or excessive crating for any reason.
Aggressive dogs can be carefully managed in an agility class (and should be, of course!). The instructor should make it very clear to the entire class that the reactive dog should not be approached by other dogs and/or people. All participants in a class that includes a reactive dog should be briefed on how to respond if there is an aggressive encounter between dogs. Also, the training area should be equipped with a “safe place” for the reactive dog and his handler to retreat to, where he can relax without having to see or deal with other dogs.
At no time should a dog who exhibits aggression be “corrected” with leash “pops” or hitting; this only confirms his bad feelings about the activity and presence of others. Instead, care should be taken to move him to a greater distance fiom the rest of the class, and more time spent working on self-control games and behaviors that are incompatible with barking and lunging. This takes time but is well worth the effort.
Therapeutic Games Useful in Agility
Even without having agility equipment, you can play the following games to help your dog learn some therapeutic skills. Be sure to play these games with a happy attitude. Dogs are truth detectors; if you fake having fun, they will know. Play with your dog only when you truly are feeling playful and want to have fun!
While you are playing, observe your dog and use her behavior as a method of feedback. If she’s playing the game slowly and methodically, bump up your own energy level to encourage her.
Eye Contact Game
This is a fun way to teach your dog to pay attention to you. With your dog on a leash, and with you standing on the end of the leash, take a piece of food in an obvious way, so she sees that you have something delicious, and hold it out at arm’s length from your head at eye level.
If she looks at your face, mark the behavior (with a click! of a clicker or verbal marker, such as the word, “Yes!”) and feed her the piece of food. Watch her carefully. Most dogs will look at the food for a few seconds, and then look at your face for clues as to why you are doing something so odd!
The second she looks at you, click! and treat. If she only stares at the food, hypnotized, hide it behind your back for a second, and then hold the food an arm’s length away from you again. Most dogs will look at you at some point when they realize that staring at the food yields nothing.
Once the dog has the idea that looking at your face earns her clicks and treats, raise the criteria slowly by requiring a slightly longer period of eye contact before she gets the click and treat. As soon as it’s clear that she gets the game, you can increase the difficulty of the exercise. Move the food closer to your head, and, as she consistently succeeds, wiggle the food around, making it progressively more challenging for her to ignore the food and make eye contact with you.
This is a very fun game that teaches self-control, eye contact, and how to ignore enticing distractions, all at the same time. These are especially valuable skills for a dog who has “issues” with people and/or dogs; you now have a behavior (eye contact with you) that is incompatible with barking and lunging. Instead of scanning the area looking for things or other beings to bark at, your dog can look at you and earn clicks and treats instead!
Restrained Recall Game
To play this game you need two people. One person holds the dog, gently restraining her from getting to the trainer. The trainer runs away from the dog calling her name. When the dog strains against the person holding her back, this person releases the dog to dash to the trainer. The trainer can then click as the dog is running to her and feed her a delicious treat or, if she is more motivated by play, play with a toy when the dog reaches her.
This game can help train your dog to come when called at light speed very helpful if you find yourself in an emergency situation with your dog off leash.
Running Side by Side Game
In this game, your dog learns to run alongside you, in a loose heeling position. The goal is for him to keep his eye on you for direction, so he doesn’t run in front and trip you! It’s easiest to start by running in a small circle, with your dog on the outside. Carry one of your dog’s favorite toys or some scrumptious treats, and click! and treat frequently at first, to engage and hold her attention. Practice in clockwise and counterclockwise circles.
Go! Game
The object of this game is to get your dog to run and jump a small obstacle on cue. This doesn’t have to be fancy; you can use a broomstick and two piles of books to make a little jump! To start, position your dog by your side, with both of you facing a small jump. You should be equipped with a toy the dog really likes, or a “bait bag” full of treats.
The idea is to throw the bag over the jump, with the intention, initially, of getting your dog to chase after it, jumping the obstacle in the process. She gets to play with the toy or enjoy a few treats before you repeat the game. After a number of successful repetitions, as she anticipates your throw and runs ahead to the jump, you can start adding a cue, such as “Go!” or “Go jump!”
As she continues to succeed and seems to enjoy this game, slowly and progressively add a little more distance until you can send your dog to the jump from 30 or more feet away. Be sure to teach your dog to play this game from both sides of your body.
Also, move the jump around and make it look different; drape a sheet over the broom, or put pillows underneath it. This will help your dog generalize the behavior, making it more likely that your dog will play the game even if the jump looks different or is in different locations.
There are Endless Agility Games to Try
It’s not immediately apparent to the casual observer, but there are literally hundreds of games that you can play with your dog in the process of teaching him to run an entire agility course. That’s a good thing for a dog who enjoys playing games! Each skill he learns can be applied in many agility activities.
Agility Teaches to Relax (Both of You!)
The benefits of agility do not end with the training session. One extremely helpful technique for modifying aggressive behavior is teaching a dog to relax. Some of the more active dogs (herding, terrier, and sporting types) can benefit tremendously by the relaxing aftereffect of exercise. After a good agility workout, most active dogs curl up for a nap.
Make it a habit to sit quietly for at least 10 to 15 minutes with your dog in a comfortable place after your agility practice session. Sit on a blanket or pad, or, if you are not at home (and if your dog is reacting to other dogs or activity nearby), sit in the back seat of the car together.
When she is sitting or lying quietly with you, reward her with treats and calm petting or massage strokes – that is, if she enjoys petting. (If she ducks your touch or becomes more energetic when you stroke her, don’t pet her during this quiet time.) Ignore her if she is active or restless. Reinforce only the desired behavior: tuning into you and calming down.
Keep yourself calm and quiet, too! Don’t “tune out” will the cell phone or by socializing with other humans. Take some deep breaths (in and out! ), relax all your muscles, and just “be” with your dog for a few minutes.
Agility is Not for Dogs in Pain
Physical issues can be a significant barrier to agility training being useful as a training or rehabilitation tool. Loose knee caps, dysplastic joints, back pain, or injuries can interfere with your dog’s enjoyment. Most agility trainers recommend a detailed veterinary physical exam of every single joint of your dog’s body prior to starting an agility training program.
Find a Positive Trainer
Agility is about bonding and connecting with your dog. It is a fun learning process for both humans and dogs. If you are in an agility class and are concerned your dog isn’t having fun, discuss this with your instructor immediately.
Any forceful training (the use of choke chains, prong collars, shock collars, water squirt guns, or excessive crating) is not part of playing the agility game. Screen instructors and schools carefully, finding a good match for yourself and your dog.
Agility is not a substitute for a behavior modification program, or medication if it is needed, but it can be a wonderful adjunct that will likely speed the progress of your dog’s path to better mental health. If you have a dog with issues, consider finding an agility clicker trainer familiar with fear, aggression, and learning theory. It will make you both feel better!
Angelica Steinker owns and operates Courteous Canine, Inc., a clicker training and agility school in Lutz, Florida. She is the author of Agility Success (2000) and Click and Play Agility (2006).
Anorexia, bulimia, and weird pregnancy cravings are common in humans, but did you know dogs have eating disorders, too? Dogs with pica (pronounced PIE-kuh) consume indigestible nonfood items like rocks, concrete, wrought iron, glass, ice, coins, screws, upholstery stuffing, batteries, soda cans, gravel, dirt, clay, and other objects. Young puppies often chew on inappropriate items in an effort to ease the discomfort of teething; this is different. Adolescent and adult dogs who exhibit pica compulsively chew and consume inappropriate items, sometimes resulting in their deaths.
Chewing hard or sharp objects can damage teeth, gums, or digestive organs. Objects that become stuck or cause blockage can require surgery. And items containing zinc or other toxic minerals can poison the dog.
288
Dog owners more frequently complain about another disturbing habit of canine consumption: coprophagia (pronounced cop-ra-FAY-jee-a) or “dung eating.” Though dogs with coprophagia may eat only deer droppings, cat box contents, horse manure and the like, people are most horrified (and frustrated) with dogs who eat their own or other dogs’ stools. Bleh!
What causes these canine eating disorders, and what can be done about them?
Most veterinarians consider pica and coprophagia behavioral problems having nothing to do with nutrition because their patients are fed a 100-percent nutritionally complete canned or packaged dog food.
But while it’s true that you are what you eat, it’s even more true that you are what you absorb, and not every dog has a perfect digestive tract. In many cases, improving a dog’s diet and/or digestion has resulted in significant behavior changes. In addition to using positive reinforcement to encourage dogs to consume appropriate food items and leave other things alone, a few simple adjustments to the dog’s daily fare may solve the problem.
A closer look at pica
When pica is caused by a nutritional deficiency or imbalance, other symptoms accompany the condition. In the May 1996 Journal of the American Holistic Veterinary Medical Association, Martin Schulman, VMD, reported that mineral deficiencies often contribute to the development of seizures.
In a review of the medical histories of patients diagnosed with epilepsy in his clinic, Dr. Schulman discovered that an “astonishingly high percentage” showed significant manifestations of pica. In one case, a female German Shepherd Dog had a history of licking wrought iron and eating Christmas tree lights and glass. Treating the patient with an improved diet supplemented with plant-derived colloidal minerals, digestive enzymes, and probiotic foods cured the pica within 21 days, and the dog had no additional seizures.
Other conditions that can coincide with pica include hair loss, dry or flaky skin or coat, pigment problems, infertility, eclampsia or other problems with pregnancy or whelping, birth defects, bone and growth problems, anemia, fatigue, muscle spasms, irregular heartbeat, respiratory illnesses, allergies, digestive disorders, immune system problems, slow wound healing, glandular disorders, and chronic ill health.
Advocates of home-prepared diets often claim that a well-balanced raw diet eliminates or prevents pica, but occasionally the condition occurs even in well-fed dogs.
In Riverside, California, Jacki Panzik has been breeding Standard Poodles for 15 years, feeding a raw diet and using minimal vaccinations. She recently dealt with two litters born within a month of each other that were sired by the same stud dog, in which the puppies at age 12 to 16 weeks showed symptoms of pica, including the consumption of dirt.
“Pica is often demonstrated in autistic children,” she says. “I am in the field of alternative medicine, and I see a lot of similarities between the physical condition of some dogs today and autistic children.”
Panzik and her husband do energy balancing, so they worked with the pups and their sire energetically to correct the problem’s underlying causes. In addition, they suggested adding bone meal to the diet fed to the pups. Within a week, the puppies from both litters stopped eating dirt.
Wendy Volhard, author of the bestselling Holistic Guide for a Healthy Dog, has observed symptoms of pica in dogs who have a tendency to bloat. “When they are outside and a bloating episode is about to start,” she says, “you sometimes find them eating grass, leaves, and dirt without stopping. If confined indoors, they may eat the fringes of carpets, curtains, and whatever else they can reach. This is true aberrant eating behavior, and in every case I have observed, the result has been bloat.”
Years ago, Volhard’s Briard, DJ, was with her at a training camp, and when she returned to her room after teaching a class, she was horrified to find DJ pulling curtains through the top of his wire crate. He had swallowed more than half of one before she could get him out and untangle the mess.
DJ was the portrait of a dog going into bloat as he stood panting with his head down and his left side brick-hard and slightly protruding. Volhard treated him homeopathically and did acupressure on his stomach meridian while someone drove them to the nearest veterinarian. The examination and x-rays showed that DJ had suffered no damage, but he went on to experience several more episodes, including one in which he ate large quantities of autumn leaves.
“We went back and forth to the vet many times,” says Volhard, “and each time he was okay. Taking care of it is one thing, but I wanted to stop it entirely. I discovered that dogs with this condition seem to respond very well to the addition of hydrochloric acid and pepsin at every meal.
“This made me think that they don’t have the capacity to make enough stomach acid to break down their food. In my experience, adding this simple supplement has been very successful in stopping pica. In DJ’s case, a hydrochloric acid and pepsin capsule twice a day in his meals, plus a spleen glandular supplement during the change of seasons, did the trick. It took some trial and error but he never again had a problem with bloat or showed any symptoms of pica.”
Stool eating
In the wild, dung eating is common. As L. David Mech, Ph.D., explained in “What a Wolf Eats” (WDJ March 2005), wolves are opportunistic omnivores. “They will eat literally anything that is remotely edible,” he says. The same is true of all canines. In his popular book Give Your Dog a Bone, Australian veterinarian Ian Billinghurst reminds readers that all dogs are scavengers.
Jacki Panzik
278
“They receive valuable nutrients from material we humans find totally repugnant,” Billinghurst says, “things like vomit, feces, and decaying flesh . . . Feces are a highly valuable food consisting of the dead and living bodies of millions upon millions of bacteria. To replace feces requires a team of ingredients like yogurt, brewer’s yeast, eggs, oils, an enzyme product, and crushed raw vegetables as a source of fiber.”
Mother wolves, like mother dogs, ingest the fecal matter produced by their young puppies. Some researchers say this is an attempt to hide the litter from predators, while others say it provides the mother with nutrients.
Both theories are probably correct. The manure of herbivores such as deer, elk, cattle, sheep, geese, and other grass-eating animals contains B-complex vitamins, vitamin K, minerals, beneficial bacteria, essential fatty acids, enzymes, antioxidants, and fiber. Although most dogs who indulge remain healthy, veterinarians warn that fecal matter may contain parasites such as giardia, coccidia, roundworms, or whipworms.
Some dogs become interested in their own stools only after they eat raw carrots or other foods that they cannot completely digest. Withholding hard-to-digest foods from your dog’s diet is a simple solution.
Because grain-based foods are difficult for dogs to digest, a high-carbohydrate dog food can cause a dog to produce large amounts of feces containing only partially digested ingredients. Feeding a grain-free food or home-prepared food that is high in protein and low in carbohydrates can result in more complete digestion and smaller, less appetizing stools.
Those who feed raw bones report that the end result of a meal that includes raw bone is small, hard, dry, and less interesting than fecal matter that does not contain bone.
In her Complete Herbal Handbook for the Dog and Cat, Juliette de Bairacli Levy (see “Grandmother Nature,” July 2006) writes, “Dogs should never have their natural instincts thwarted in the matter of diet. They should not be prevented from eating the droppings of grass-fed cattle and horses, from which they can get many vital elements derived from the herbage on which the animals have grazed and in a form easily assimilated by the dog . . . Only eating its own or other dogs’ feces is a depraved habit and should be checked at once.”
Commercial products with names like For-Bid, Deter, and SEP (Stop Eating Poop) are designed to make stools unappetizing. For-Bid contains wheat gluten and monosodium glutamate, which are said to work with the digestive tract to give stools a bad taste. Deter tablets contain a “natural vegetable extract.” SEP (Stop Eating Poop) powder contains dicalcium phosphate, rice flour, glutamic acid, peppermint, Yucca schidigera extract, beef liver, oil of parsley, and natural flavoring.
Do-it-yourself treatments include sprinkling monosodium glutamate (MSG, or Accent flavor enhancer) on the dog’s food, adding a drop of anise essential oil, or adding garlic, pumpkin, meat tenderizer, pineapple, zucchini, or Fig Newtons to the food. By all accounts, these methods work for some dogs but not for all.
“I’ve never had much success breaking a dog of this habit,” says canine health researcher Mary Straus, who lives in the San Francisco Bay area. “Interestingly, it’s a habit that can be learned as an adult, not just as a puppy. My Nattie was a stool-eater, but Piglet never was until she started observing Nattie. She’s now as bad as Nattie ever was.”
While debate continues as to whether coprophagia is a behavioral problem, there’s no doubt that dogs who are bored, receive little aerobic exercise or interesting play, and have unlimited access to their own or other animals’ droppings will be difficult to discourage. Increasing the dog’s active exercise, giving him a larger assortment of interesting toys to play with, keeping the dog’s exercise area clean and free from excrement, keeping cat litter boxes out of reach, and giving the dog several small meals per day rather than only one large meal can all help reduce his interest in coprophagia or at least reduce his opportunity to indulge.
Improve your dog’s digestion
In addition to improving your dog’s diet, start using supplements that can improve her digestion.
For example, try an enzyme product like Prozyme. The heat of processing destroys enzymes in food, making the food more difficult to digest. Enzyme powders sprinkled on food supply these important catalysts, resulting in more efficient digestion. Many vets and dog owners have reported excellent results from adding Prozyme or similar enzyme powders to the food of dogs with pica or coprophagia.
278
Digestive support products that contain hydrochloric acid, pepsin, and other digestive enzymes may help prevent pica and bloat in dogs whose hydrochloric acid production is low.
Human digestive supplements that contain hydrochloric acid (HCl) and pepsin or other digestive enzymes can be adapted for canine use. Assume that the human dose is appropriate for someone weighing 120 to 150 pounds and divide this amount by your dog’s weight to adjust the recommended dosage. Add one capsule or tablet (or an appropriate fraction of a capsule or tablet), buried in food, at the end of the meal. If feeding a dry dog food, wrap the tablet or capsule in a piece of cheese, a piece of meat, or something the dog will swallow whole.
Digestive supplements that contain warming herbs or spices such as ginger or cinnamon can also help improve digestion and assimilation. As above, adjust the dose for your dog’s size, or simply sprinkle 1/8 to ¼ teaspoon powdered cinnamon or ginger on your dog’s food. Give smaller amounts to small dogs and larger amounts to giant breeds.
Seacure is a fermented deep sea white fish product sold as pet supplement powder, chewable wafers, and capsules. Because it is predigested, its amino acids and peptides are immediately assimilated, facilitating tissue repair throughout the body. Dogs with digestive disorders that contribute to pica often improve quickly, and those with coprophagia may become less interested in their fecal output.
Dee Eckert, at Seacure’s manufacturer, Proper Nutrition, Inc., says they have heard from breeders, trainers, and pet guardians who say that Seacure helped eliminate symptoms in dogs with pica and coprophagia. “We have been told that dogs who exhibit these behaviors suffer from leaky gut syndrome and malabsorption. If this is true, it makes sense that Seacure would help because it is best known for treating digestive and malabsorption issues.” (For more information, see “Securing Seacure,” April 2003.)
Beneficial bacteria play an important role in not only the digestion process but the entire immune system. In fact, beneficial bacteria are the body’s first line of defense against harmful bacteria, viruses, parasites, and other pathogens. (See “Probing Probiotics,” August 2006, for more information.)
Lactobacillus acidophilus and other species of beneficial bacteria help prevent diarrhea, leaky gut syndrome, lactose intolerance, and other symptoms of indigestion. They assist in the production of vitamins and enzymes, decrease toxins and mutagenic reactions, improve the assimilation and utilization of carbohydrates and protein, and strengthen the body’s ability to fight infection.
But many American dogs have insufficient quantities of beneficial bacteria. One reason is their frequent treatment with antibiotics, which kill good as well as bad bacteria. Another is processed pet foods that disrupt the body’s ecology and help harmful strains of bacteria take over.
Adding beneficial bacteria in the form of live-culture yogurt or probiotic supplements helps restore the body’s army of friendly microbes. Probiotics are recommended for all dogs with pica, coprophagia, or digestive disorders.
Mineral supplements are another recommendation for dogs with eating disorders. Humans with iron-deficiency anemia often crave ice or paper, while those with other mineral deficiencies may crave items like laundry starch, chalk, clay, dirt, or charcoal from a wood stove. Mineral deficiencies may trigger similar cravings in dogs, and numerous holistic veterinarians report resolution of their patients’ pica eating with mineral supplementation.
Several brands of colloidal minerals are sold in health food stores, most of which contain more than 60 minerals and trace elements. Mineral supplements like the Standard Process product Min-Tran, which is available from veterinarians and some online retailers, have helped many dogs recover from pica.
Adding vegetable oil to the dog’s food has helped in some cases of pica and coprophagia. Coconut oil may be the best vegetable oil for dogs because of its stability and its ability to destroy harmful bacteria, viruses, parasites, yeasts, and fungi. Coconut oil helps repair digestion and improves the assimilation of nutrients. Add coconut oil to any dog’s food at the rate of 1 teaspoon per 10 pounds of body weight, starting with smaller amounts and building up gradually. (For more information, see “Crazy about Coconut Oil,” October 2005.)
Other methods
Homeopathy has helped some dogs with pica or coprophagia. In classical homeopathy, remedies are prescribed individually according to each patient’s history and symptoms. For best results, consult a veterinary homeopath.
Acupressure, acupuncture, and herbs have also helped. In her book Four Paws, Five Directions: A Guide to Chinese Medicine for Cats and Dogs, Cheryl Schwartz, DVM, describes excessive appetite and the eating of strange things as symptoms of “excessive stomach fire” associated with the liver and gall bladder.
Dr. Schwartz explains how to treat the problem by holding key acupuncture points. She also recommends 2 to 3 dropperfuls each of dandelion (Taraxacum officinale), burdock (Arctium lappa), and wood betony (Betonica officinalis) tinctures for medium and large dogs, twice daily, plus 2 to 3 teaspoons of strongly brewed chamomile (Matricaria chamomilla) tea twice daily with food. Small dogs receive 1 dropperful of each tincture and 1 teaspoon chamomile tea.
Some people have successfully trained their dogs to stop eating fecal matter, rocks, and other objects using various methods at least, as long as they were present and vigilant. In general, though, most owners have learned that managing the dog’s habit by simply keeping him away from the forbidden treats will be more fruitful, and less frustrating, than positive or negative training methods. And the various health-based strategies described above provide more reliable results.
There may be no simple cure for pica or coprophagia, but the potential for relief from these disturbing habits makes trying a few of these treatments definitely worth the effort.
A long-time contributor to WDJ and author of The Encyclopedia of Natural Pet Care, Natural Remedies for Dogs and Cats, and other books, CJ Puotinen lives in New York with her husband, a Lab, and a tabby cat.
Randy Boucher of Philadelphia took his new Rhodesian Ridgeback puppy on her first veterinary visit armed with a binder full of diet and vaccine recommendations from his holistically oriented dog breeder.
But instead of a conversation about raw feeding and minimal vaccination, he got a rant.
“The vet told me my breeder was a crackpot, and that he totally disagreed with what she wanted me to do,” Boucher remembers. “And he said Mosa was underweight and that I should put kibble in her bowl and let her eat as much as she wanted for 15 minutes” advice that for ever-ravenous Ridgies is a one-way ticket to dog obesity.
Angry and upset, Boucher picked up his brown-nosed girl and headed out the door. Later that day, he called his “crackpot” breeder who, in the interest of full disclosure, happens to be me!
I promised that a remedy was only a few keystrokes away, and it was: In response to my e-mailed plea, several fellow breeders on a Ridgeback Internet forum recommended a homeopathic vet in nearby Delaware whose attitudes about dog nutrition and vaccination exactly mirror the way Mosa was reared. Though the new vet isn’t as conveniently located as the first, the half-hour drive to Wilmington is a small price to pay for a kindred spirit.
Vet visits shouldn’t be traumatic, for the dog or the owner. And while Mosa’s story has a happy ending and most vet visits aren’t as harrowing as her inaugural one many owners who want to pursue a more holistic approach find themselves in a quandary over how to deal with the second-most important human relationship in their dog’s life: the one with their vet.
“That old paternalistic and maternalistic view of medicine is still there, particularly in older practitioners. There is this idea of ‘Do this because I say so, and don’t ask questions,’” says veterinarian Myrna M. Milani of Charlestown, New Hampshire, author of The Art of Veterinary Practice: A Guide to Client Communication, (University of Pennsylvania Press, 1995). Thankfully, as with human medicine, veterinary care is evolving, and “there has been a shift to a new, patient-centered form, and in that realm the owner becomes the animal’s advocate.”
It’s getting there that can be difficult.
It’s more emotional
Chances are your interactions with your auto mechanic or accountant are straightforward and uncomplicated unless, of course, your car keeps stalling or the IRS comes calling, in which case you move on.
But your relationship with your vet is likely more complex, for a couple of reasons: The art of medicine is not as linear as adding up a column of numbers; negotiating your options is very subjective, and sometimes touchy, especially if your vet isn’t supportive of holistic modalities you might be inclined to try. And while you may love your VW Bug beyond measure, triangulating yourself between a vet’s professional opinion, the fate of your furry mop-top, and your own ideas about the right approach can bring with it a range of turbocharged emotions more appropriate for a therapist’s couch than a stainless-steel exam table.
Randye DeLorto, a Rottweiler breeder from Hemet, California, says the handiest metaphor she can think of is marriage.
“Like any marriage, you have to work at it, and vets can be high maintenance,” she says. “My vet knows I’m a breeder, and he knows I’m holistic, and we spar. I respect him for his thoughts, and I ask his opinion on other things. And I think he respects my knowledge and effort, and the fact that I don’t think the same way he does. That’s a good way to have any good working relationship or marriage.”
No relationship conjugal, veterinary, or otherwise is perfect. There will always be areas of tension and disagreement. In some cases, monogamy may not be the best option: Some owners might have to expand their circle of veterinary care to include specialty and holistic practitioners who have expertise where their primary vet doesn’t. All of this takes time, thought, and most important the willingness to be honest and open about what you are doing and why.
If you’re struggling with your relationship with your vet, or are considering finding a new one, here are some things to consider.
Do a cost-benefit analysis
Every vet-client relationship will have its rough patches; that’s just reality. The question to ask yourself, Milani suggests, is: “What am I getting from this person versus what I have to give up?” If your veterinarian is a brilliant diagnostician and surgeon, has top-notch equipment, keeps up on her continuing education, but is lukewarm about the fact that you feed a raw diet, consider whether that is enough to be a deal breaker.
What people value in a veterinarian can also vary wildly. “For some people, the most important thing is a vet they can communicate easily with,” Milani says. “For others, it’s state-of-the-art technology.” If you’re someone who places a premium on a relaxed, engaging bedside manner, no gee-whiz diagnostic machinery is going to make up for that. Figure out what matters to you, and see if you can forgive the rest.
Penny Mallen of Napa, California, is a case in point. Her equine vet is supportive of her decision to vaccinate her horses minimally, and to use homeopathic nosodes whenever possible. Her dogs’ vet is a different story.
“We lock horns on a regular basis regarding vaccination,” she says. “I send him all the articles that I see, and then he puts them in my file and we don’t talk about it.”
Despite the fact that her vet can get “feisty” and “argumentative,” they’ve agreed to disagree a process made easier, Mallen admits, by the influence of her vet’s wife, who also happens to be the aforementioned equine vet.
“In all honesty, I haven’t found anyone any better,” she says. “He’s a wonderful technician. I can call them at home. He’s fairly open-minded, and he likes his clients to be knowledgeable; he respects that. He’s willing to read and listen, and I think that’s the most important thing, even in the end if he doesn’t agree.” Bottom line: His pros outweigh his cons.
Respect in, emotion out
Part of the reason for Mallen’s success with her vet is that both are respectful: Mallen of her vet’s professional ability and training, and he of her position as final arbiter.
“I view all my relationships this way, whether it’s with my attorney or my doctor or even my husband,” she says. “If they are knowledgeable about the subject, I listen, but in the end I’m the one that has to make the decision that’s right for me. And for the most part, if I can eliminate emotion, it works better.”
Love, guilt, fear, sadness, resentment all those feelings can cloud your dealings with your vet and affect the treatment process. “We increasingly live in a society in which our relationships with our companion animals are driven by emotion rather than knowledge,” Milani says. And while that’s understandable, it’s not helpful, “because when you’re driven by emotion, that’s all you’ve got.”
As simple as it is to do, it may be difficult for some owners to set aside the various emotions that dealing with an authority figure dredges up whether fear or guilt or hostility and just deal honestly and straightforwardly with their veterinarians.
“Do you know that your vet is going to be offended” if you respectfully but firmly disagree with her opinion? Milani asks. “Or are you just afraid the vet is going to be offended?” Don’t make decisions based on “what ifs.”
Consider the culture
No matter what the species, medicine can be a rigid, hierarchical discipline where creative thinking and compassion the very things that draw idealists to the field are sometimes backburnered in the face of pragmatic considerations such as productivity and profitability.
Veterinarian John Robb of Fairfield, Connecticut, founder of Protect the Pets, a nationwide network of veterinary prac-titioners who have pledged to put the welfare of animals above the drive for profits, says veterinary culture is by its very nature resistant to change.
“There’s a lot of concern with protecting our image rather than embracing change in a much-changing world,” he says, noting that he felt pressured, even persecuted, when he decided to switch to a minimal vaccination protocol a decade before it was in vogue. This occurred again when he began to question the inordinate influence pharmaceutical and vaccine companies have on how veterinarians do business. “In that context, we do have a lot of vets who think they know more than they do, and egos get inflated,” he says.
While no one advocates kowtowing to a Dr. Doolittle with a Napoleon complex, clients can get more with honey or at least a little sweet talking. Veterinarians who are unaccustomed to having their authority challenged, or who interpret a client’s desire to follow a different protocol as criticism of their competency, can respond magically to a basic reaffirmation of their ability. Telling the veterinarian, “I know you’re a crackerjack allopathic vet and I’d like you to help me pursue holistic treatment for my dog,” tells her that you respect her knowledge base, and turns a potential conflict into a team effort.
“It’s like when you have kids,” Milani reminds. “There are times when for their sake you buck up and do something because it’s so important even if you have to fake it.”
Understand your vet’s unspoken concerns
The veterinary profession has already changed dramatically, Robb says, considering that until the 1950s veterinary medicine was mostly agriculture-oriented, and small-animal hospitals were unheard of. Today, awareness of the human-animal bond has taken root, but as an institution veterinary medicine is still often out of synch with it.
As an example, Milani points to the practice of not allowing an owner to hold an animal during an exam. “That’s an edict that comes down from the American Veterinary Medical Association,” she notes. Vets who choose to disregard this rule may be honoring their client’s relationship with their dog, but at a potential cost.
Like it or not, such liability concerns pay a large role in determining how a veterinarian will deal with requests that are outside his or her comfort level. You can help make that a moot issue by offering to sign a liability waiver. Or, reassure your vet by acknowledging his concerns, but reminding him that you take responsibility for the direction you are choosing, and reassuring him you won’t blame him if things don’t turn out as you envision.
“Ultimately, it’s the public that needs to spur on change by articulating what they want,” Robb reminds. By doing your part with your own veterinarian, you nudge the process a tiny bit further, one dog at a time.
Be honest
This should be obvious, but for many it’s not. As with our own personal relationships, we are sometimes tempted play games in order to avoid confrontation or unpleasantness.
“Where people get into trouble is they don’t tell the veterinarian who’s working the case up that they’re going to leave with the antibiotics and then throw them out because that’s not what they wanted in the first place,” Milani says. Not only does this undermine your relationship with your vet, but it could put your dog’s health in jeopardy. The same applies if you are freelancing herbs on the side and are unaware of their contraindications.
Furtively obtaining holistic treatment without telling your veterinarian also undermines the validity of what you’re doing, she adds. “To me, what you’re saying is you believe those holistic treatments have no power, that they’re not going to have any effect.”
Besides, just how long can you keep up the ruse? “The benchmark of the whole natural holistic movement is that none of these modalities are a quick fix,” Milani explains. “They all require commitment and involvement” something that’s impossible if you’re tiptoeing around.
Don’t rationalize
Milani notes that previous surveys by the American Veterinary Medical Association have consistently found that location is a prime criterion for choosing a vet. “People go to the one that’s closest until they have a bad experience. Then they’re willing to travel farther.”
Instead, be proactive. If your relationship with your vet is shaky, admit that to yourself, and either try to fix it or move on. “Where I see people get into trouble is that they know when they go to their vet that it’s not working for them, but they go into denial,” Milani says. “Every time they go, there is no communication, which can’t be good for the dog. Then when crisis strikes, they just react.”
The more difficult the conversation, the more important it is to have it before things get to a breaking point. Milani says end-of-life concerns are a common area where communication snafus can be devastating.
“There is nothing worse for the owner of a terminally sick or injured animal than to discover that their vet will not euthanize that animal,” she says. “To have been with a practice for years, and now, when you really want this person there, to find out they have a personal moral view that they didn’t share” that’s a surprise no one wants.
Do your homework
Like it or not, the burden is on you to evolve your relationship with your vet, and give it the fuel to grow.
“What really needs to happen is the vet has to embrace the client,” says Robb. To encourage your veterinarian to make that leap, “clients need to do research on their own, and present the vet with reliable research from a reliable source.”
Owners who are newly embarked on a holistic path often don’t have the confidence to stand up for the approach they want. “The key isn’t so much credentials,” says Milani, it’s informing yourself about what you want. “If my client has obviously done her homework, I will feel more confident about letting her try different options than if she seems to know nothing.”
The more lead time you can get on decision-making, the better. For example, when you call to make the appointment for your puppy’s first series of inoculations, ask the receptionist or a technician to de-scribe the practice’s standard vaccine protocol.
If, after more research, you decide you’d prefer a different approach, call back and inquire whether you have options on what vaccines to give. Doing more research such as finding out if your breed or particular line of dogs has a history of vaccine reactions will also bolster your case.
If you are very nervous about talking to your vet, jot down some talking points, practice them with a friend, or bring along another person for support.
Bring in outside expertise
DeLorto, who’s fond of her marriage metaphor, went to her conventional vet six years ago “already having other suitors,” she says with a wink. The consultant she selects depends on her needs.
For example, she sends all her bloodwork to veterinary immunologist Jean Dodds in Santa Monica, California. She has a holistic vet who she turns to for chiropractic and kinesiology. And there’s another conventional vet who is open to holistic modalities, but whose policy of not taking appointments makes her less convenient.
Even if your vet labels herself “holistic,” that won’t necessarily save you from having to take a more buffet approach to your dog’s care: “Holistic” covers a yawning spectrum, from the mostly conventional vet who is certified in chiropractic but only turns to it for textbook cases, to the naturopath who uses kinesiology to diagnose problems over the phone.
Referrals are another option, says veterinarian Anna Worth, owner and medical director of West Mountain Animal Hospital in Shaftsbury, Vermont, and vice president of the American Animal Hospital Association. “If we have someone who doesn’t want to give his dog Rimadyl [for arthritis pain], or wants to try something else instead of chemotherapy for cancer, we have a very good homeopathic vet near us,” she says. “I think a vet has to be understanding of what that client wants.”
If you don’t have a holistic vet nearby, geography need not limit you: Many will do phone consults, as long as they can consult and work in conjunction with your local vet.
Robb notes that there is plenty of room for improvement, especially among general practitioners “who need to be more open-minded about holistic medicine.” He suggests that owners remind conventional vets who are skeptical or who have had a bad experience with what they term “quackery” that there are varying degrees of competency in every area. And ultimately, “the proof will be in the pudding” if the holistic approach is successful.
Milani notes that the more confident and capable a vet is, the more tolerant she’ll be of new ideas and approaches. “Vets who are comfortable with what they are doing are very open. They’ll say, ‘If I don’t know, I’ll find out’ or ‘If you feel strongly about this, I’ll find someone to help you.’ They’re not threatened.”
If all this sounds like a lot of work, it is. “You have the same problem with your own health care,” Worth reminds. “You have to be proactive.”
Rely on word of mouth
As Boucher’s story illustrates, turning to dog-savvy people you trust including pooch-loving colleagues at work, acquaintances at the local dog run, or knowledgeable owners, breeders, and fanciers in an online community can be a lifesaver.
Talk to people about who’s “good” and why: Make sure you have the same priorities as the person who is doing the recommending.
In the case of Randy Boucher, the man who bought one of my puppies, I asked my circle of Ridgebackers, which includes licensed veterinary technicians for a vet who was supportive of minimal vaccination and a raw diet. And that’s exactly what I found!
Read between the lines
“I can tell what’s going on at a hospital by what the receptionist says on the phone,” Robb says. “At a hospital where the vet techs and staff are living their passion, there’s a peace and joy in a person’s voice. When you go there, they meet your eyes and say hello because they’re affirmed.”
Then there’s the opposite scenario, where the staff’s “basically imprisoned and are unhappy. There’s this sense of gloom and doom, because the vet is miserable and taking it out on the staff and pets. You walk in with a doctor like that and say, ‘I want to have a raw diet …’ ” Odds are the ensuing conversation won’t be a particularly fruitful one.
Take the ultimate responsibility
On this final point, Milani does not mince words. “If people put up with vets they don’t like and they can’t communicate with, or who make them feel inferior, or if they find they’re doing things they don’t want to do,” there’s only one person to blame, she concludes. Find a mirror.
I’ve had a number of older owners book lessons with me lately—more than half a dozen individuals and couples in their 70s and even 80s, all wanting some training help with their new dogs or puppies.
